We tripped along to our local world-class velodrome the other day (as one does…) to see I-Ride’s latest offerings for 2016. Set up centrally in the middle of the banked boards, it was a great venue, and only slightly distracting to have Sir Bradley Wiggins and friends doing hot laps above our heads.
Green Oil
First up, we went to see Simon at Green Oil. Green Oil has been doing more than paying lip service to the whole green thing and all of its products, from its degreasers to chain oils are made to have as little impact as possible. For this year, Green Oil is giving you less in its Bike Cleaner formula. Much of the volume of bike washing liquid that you buy is actually water, so Green Oil has removed the water from its solution, leaving just the concentration. This makes the product lighter to ship and everybody’s a winner, right?
Speedplay Syzr
After what seems like years (and what actually has been years and years) the much anticipated Speedplay Syzr finally exists! It’s even in stock in shops now at £199 a pair for the chromoly axle versions). What makes the Syzr more than just an SPD knockoff? It’s all in the cleat really. The self-centreing, titanium cleat has Speedplay’s famous ‘standing on an ice cube feeling’ float, but the inner and outer limits of that float is adjustable (by the grub screws on the left, below). This allows you to perfectly dial in where the pedal releases, along with how much float you get. Ceramic rollers at either end of the cleat make sure there’s no ‘cold fusion’ between the Ti cleat and the steel jaws, so – in theory – the pedal will release exactly when you want it to. We have a pair zooming their way for test right now.
Northwave shoes
It’s time to get all trail shoe! (Or enduro! if you prefer…) – this is the Explorer 2GTX which features some of the fruits of Northwave’s recent collaboration with rubber giants Michelin. The sole features Michelin rubber lugs while the upper features Gore-Tex Path water and windproof membrane. There’s the SL2 ‘superquick lacing plus elastic supportive band’ too. Looks a good all-round trail shoe.
Northwave Enduro Mid
Cedric’s shoes.
As we showed you earlier this month Cedric Gracia has been working closely with Northwave to make some signature shoes for Enduro. It also features Michelin rubber soles and Northwave’s own ratchet dial system.
Deuter Packs
Deuter was showing it’s comprehensive range of packs. Everything from 25litre overnight bags to short, fast ride bags.
Guee
A new company for I-Ride is Guee, makers of silicon lights and clever nifty things like GPS holders that also hold a GoPro
Team GB
All afternoon we had to put up with the likes of Sir Brad (in the gold Giro shoes) doing hot laps above our head. It’s not a bad facility to have just down the road.
Argon 18
A quick road aside from Argon 18. It had no mountain bikes on show, but we saw this, which’ll interest readers over at our sister site, grit.cx
